Imagination Technologies, a leading designer of multimedia processing cores, said recently that its PowerVR graphics acceleration technology has an installed base of over 250 million devices across the mobile phone, media player and embedded markets. Theoretically, this makes PowerVR the most popular graphics accelerating core in the consumer electronics segment.

The claim came about seven months after ImgTec announced that its graphics and multimedia processing cores – Meta, Ensigma and PowerVR – have shipped in over 200 million system-on-chip (SoC) devices and enabled over 175 smartphones and media players. Based on the recent claim, it seems that Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR graphics processing core is gaining even higher popularity with the increased importance of multimedia features in mobile devices.

“PowerVR is the leading 3D graphics technology in cellphones and game-enabled media players. Moreover it is the technology enabling gaming in new market areas such as set top boxes, tablets and netbooks. With over a quarter of a billion units shipped the opportunity for developers is significant. If only a minority of those with PowerVR enabled phones choose to play games and entertainment applications it still represents a market opportunity on a par with the best of handheld or fixed consoles,” said Tony King-Smith, vice president of marketing at Imagination.

There are over 25 000 games running on PowerVR platforms and, as an opportunity, the market size is now significantly larger than the current generation handheld console market, the company stated. PowerVR Insider, the ecosystem for developers of PowerVR enabled hardware and software products, now has over 16 000 members and a thriving online community.